Halo
The Cradle of Life The Cradle of Life tells the story of an African tribesman, N'chala, who goes every morning to the same spot in the plains and watches something special. The comic implies that the Forerunners are building a huge machine in a large lake on the plains of Africa. This structure, being constructed by several Strato-Sentinels, appears to be the Portal to Instillation 00, since this is the only known Forerunner structure on Earth. Combat Evolved The UNSC Pillar of Autumn emerges out of The Void to find a huge ring — The First Sacred Ring floating in space. The main character, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 is aboard the Pillar of Autumn when the ship comes under attack by the Covenant, an alliance of aliens and the arch-enemy of humanity. Spartan evacuates the doomed ship for the surface of Halo to protect the Autumn's artificial intelligence, Cortana. She carries highly sensitive military information, which would prove disastrous if she were captured by the Covenant. With the UNSC Marines by his side, Cortana providing direction, and his assault rifle ready and loaded, the Master Chief sets to finding out the mysteries of Halo and defeating the Covenant. The first few levels of the game deal with an attempt to reach Halo's Control Room to uncover its purpose. It is soon discovered that during an attempt to take control of a research facility, both human and Covenant forces have accidentally released something: The Flood, as a result of the battle. The Flood is a parasitic race which received their name because of the way they swarm over all resistance. Free for the first time in thousands of years, the Flood sweeps across Halo, devastating Human and Covenant forces alike. The release of the Flood prompts 343 Guilty Spark, the eccentric Forerunner artificial intelligence, to activate Halo's defense systems. Most obvious among these are the Sentinels, flying robots equipped with beam projectors, but Halo's most powerful weapon is much more subtle and far more dangerous. Halo can fire a pulse that will wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy. As sentient life is the Flood's food, the Flood will not be able to survive, and will therefore perish. Technically Instillation 04 only has a maximum effective radius of 25,000 light years, but the pulse would trigger other installations as well. This system is designed to stop the Flood from spreading through the universe if they escape confinement from Halo, by starving the Flood of any life source large enough to sustain them. This is the only possible solution to the destructive parasite. Naturally, this would wipe out Humanity as well as the Covenant, and so the final levels of the game revolve around the Chief's attempt to destroy Halo before it fires. The game leaves the story open to further developments, with the revelation that there are several Halo ring worlds in the galaxy, due to Halo being numbered Installation 04 by 343 Guilty Spark, the Monitor of the Installation. It is revealed later in Halo 2 that there were seven Halos before Installation 04's destruction. 2160-2200: This is a period of brutal unrest in Human history in which National governments and break-off factions fight for control of Earth and its colonies. As overpopulation and unrest mounted on Earth, a number of new political movements were formed including the neo-communist Koslovics led by Vladimir Koslov and the neo-fascist Frieden based on the Jovian Moons, which attacked the UN Colonial Advisers on one of the moons, and UN-sponsored military forces began a pattern of massive build-ups which culminated in the Jovian Moons campaign, the Rain Forest Wars and the first Interplanetary War. After the successful Argyre Planitia Campaign, recruitment drives and propaganda tactics strongly bolstered UNSC forces. They defeated the Koslovics and the Frieden on Earth and crushed their remnants throughout the Solar System. Both factions were defeated in the face of massive, unified UN military. In the year 2291, the UNSC successfully developed humanity's first Slipspace drive, the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine. For the first time in history, the rapid colonization of other worlds was made possible. By 2390, 210 worlds had been occupied by humans, and were being actively terraformed to suit man's needs. These worlds were to become known as the Inner colonies. By 2490, the UNSC's fledgling interstellar empire had expanded to over 800 planets throughout the Orion Arm of the Milky Way galaxy. During this period, the planet Reach became the headquarters of the UNSC military, and was destined to become the most heavily fortified world under human control. : In 2517, several years before contact with the Covenant, the UNSC military embarked on a secret project to create a group of elite soldiers that would deal with occasional unrest in the Colonies. Codenamed SPARTANs, these genetically enhanced troops were trained from the age of 6 into a life of battle, and became a great asset against the Covenant. While humans suffered defeat after defeat in space, they could almost always prevail with the help of the SPARTANs in ground engagements. The main character of Halo's gameplay, the Master Chief, is a veteran SPARTAN of the SPARTAN II project after an unfortunate failure of the Orion Project. All SPARTANS II were given special armor designated MJOLNIR, which can increase their strength and speed. They were the only ones who could wear it as those without upgrades would not be able to withstand the reaction times of the armor and die. : After first contact with the Covenant was made on the colony of Harvest in 2525, a series of brutal engagements followed. Admiral Preston Jeremiah Cole's fleet managed a Victory at the 2nd Battle of Harvest, but at a high cost - two thirds of his ships were destroyed. Despite significant tactical brilliance on the part of Human commanders, Covenant technology guaranteed a four to one kill/loss ratio in most space battles. One by one, the Outer Colonies fell below the onslaught, and by 2535, virtually all had been destroyed. : By 2552, the Covenant had destroyed many of Humanity's Inner colonies. In a move of desperation, UNSC orders a secret plan to capture a Covenant ship using a SPARTAN task force and find the coordinates of their home planet. All of the Spartans except three are chosen for this mission, and, led by the Master Chief, board a specially outfitted ship known as the Pillar of Autumn (under the command of Captain Jacob Keyes). This plan, however, is interrupted when the Covenant launch a surprise attack on the fortress world of Reach. During this battle, Reach is overrun and the human fleet is obliterated. Worse still, the Master Chief thinks that all of the SPARTANs but himself are killed on the surface of the planet. The (supposedly) last remaining Spartan, the Master Chief, escapes with the Pillar of Autumn. In accordance with the Cole Protocol, the Autumn makes a blind Slipspace jump, and emerges in the vicinity of an unexplored and remarkable world. : The Pillar of Autumn exits Slipspace to find a mysterious ring shaped space station orbiting Threshold. The ring, quickly named "Halo", is obviously artificial. The Fleet of Particular Justice, however, is also present, and a subsequent battle heavily damages the Autumn. Captain Keyes initiates the Cole protocol 2 - all records of Earth's location are erased, the shipboard AI Cortana is given to the Master Chief to protect from the Covenant, and the Autumn ''is crash landed onto Halo. Cortana leaves the ''Autumn with John 117 in a Bumblebee escape pod which also crash lands on Halo. Game play begins in earnest with the Master Chief's escape from the Autumn, and continues upon landing. The player will soon discover the origins and purpose of this world - and uncover a threat that forces even the Covenant into retreat. Halo 2 The game begins on High Charity, the mobile capital city of the Covenant. The former Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice, Zealot Thel 'Vadamee, is being tried before the High Council for his failure to protect Halo. Despite his insistence that the Flood hampered his abilities, the Hierarchs who lead the council, the High San Shyuum of Truth, Mercy, and Regret, deem him guilty of failing to protect the Sacred Ring. 'Vadamee is then stripped of his rank and branded with the Mark of Shame by Tartarus, the Chieftain of the Jiralhanae. The story then turns to Earth's Orbital Defense Platform Cairo Station, where Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 receives the new MJOLNIR Mark VI armor from the Master Gunnery Sergeant. Avery Junior Johnson, recently promoted to Sergeant Major, arrives to take the Master Chief to an awards ceremony overseen by Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood for the dual purposes of awarding meritorious acts and boosting the morale of the surviving human population and noted as a war hero (John-117 has already received all medals except for the "Prisoner of War" medal). The festivities are soon interrupted by Cortana reporting "15 Covenant Capital Ships holding position just outside the kill zone", signaling the start to the Covenant Siege of Earth. UNSC Marine forces along with SPARTAN-117 protect the station from the invading Covenant Naval infantry but other stations were destroyed by the Covenant. After sending the bomb that the Covenant had placed on the ship back into space (destroying several ships) he landed on the UNSC In Amber Clad and then they head to the surface of Earth to New Mombasa to fight off the Covenant Army, led by the High Prophet of Regret. After the Covenant invasion force is halted by the UNSC defenses, the Prophet of Regret flees Earth with Miranda Keyes, Captain Jacob Keyes' daughter, and her detachment in pursuit on the UNSC In Amber Clad. The hasty in-atmosphere jump devastates the city of New Mombasa; destroying the Space Elevator and scattering its wreckage for miles around. The story then turns back to the disgraced Sangheili Commander, Thel 'Vadamee, who is given the chance of redemption by the High Prophets of Truth and Mercy in taking up the mantle of Arbiter, along with the imminent mortality of the task. The new Arbiter accepts and becomes the will of the Prophets, seeking to complete the impossible task assigned for redemption from his crimes. Thel 'Vadamee is tasked with the assassination of a Heretic Leader, who is disillusioned with the Covenant following the events of Installation 04 up to its destruction. Thel 'Vadamee tracks the Heretic Leader throughout the gas mine (battling the Heretics and the Flood) where the Heretics sought refuge. When Thel 'Vadamee is finally able to face the Heretic Leader, 'Refumee asserts his belief that the Prophets have lied about the Great Journey, punctuating this with the entry of 343 Guilty Spark, whom both Elites consider to be an Oracle of the Forerunners, the ancient race the Covenant hold as gods. Before Thel 'Vadamee could learn more of the claims, the battle resumes, and the Heretic Leader is killed before any meaningful discourse taking place. Tartarus appears to extract him and Guilty Spark, preventing Thel 'Vadamee from learning any information from Spark. He leaves, not knowing what caused the Heretics to betray their sacred oaths to the Covenant. Turning back to the SPARTAN-117's story, Keyes exits slipspace in her ship undetected with the Prophet of Regret unaware that he had been followed. To the surprise of the pursuers, they discover that Regret led them to another Instillation 5. Keyes soon determines that their objective is to Capture the Prophet of Regret and stop the Covenant from firing the Halo Rings; SPARTAN-117 is dropped onto the surface of Installation 05 with ODSTs to remove Regret. In the course of pursuing Regret, SPARTAN-117 discovers with the aid of Cortana that the Prophet intends to personally activate Halo, in the belief that it will propel true believers on the Great Journey. Keyes decides that the new revelation about Regret's intentions warrants his death, which SPARTAN-117 successfully achieves. But before being able to make his escape, the Covenant and High Charity, which has just arrived, attempt to kill SPARTAN-117 by glassing the area, and he jumps into the lake surrounding Regret's location. Incapacitated from the shock of the Covenant bombardment, SPARTAN-117 is last seen being dragged into the depths of the lake by the tentacles of the Gravemind, an ancient and highly intelligent Flood form. The story now shifts back to Thel 'Vadamee on the High Charity, in orbit around the ring. The Hierarchs had declared Regret's death to be the Sangheili's failure, and they were removed as the Honor Guard of the Covenant, who bestow the role to the Brutes, causing more tension between the Brutes and Elites who are already at odds with each other. With the new ring discovered, Truth and Mercy inquire Guilty Spark on how to activate it, and dispatch Thel 'Vadamee to recover the Sacred Icon which will light the ring. Making his way through the Quarantine Zone facing scores of Flood and Sentinels on the surface of Installation 05 seeking the Activation Index, Thel 'Vadamee makes his way into the Library and captures the Index along with Keyes and Johnson after they recovered it from its protective housing. Before he can take possession of the Index, Tartarus again intervenes in Thel 'Vadamee's task. After taking the Index into his own personal possession, Tartarus then reveals that the Hierarchs intended for his death to oust the Elites. His treachery revealed, Tartarus knocks Thel 'Vadamee unconscious down a shaft in the Index chamber to the abyss below. Beneath the Library, SPARTAN-117 finds himself in the clutches of the Gravemind, the creature that acts as the sentient intelligence of the Flood. Although Thel 'Vadamee had fallen from a great height, he is saved from plunging to his death by the Gravemind's tentacles. It is within the Gravemind's chamber where Thel 'Vadamee and SPARTAN-117 meet. In addition, the Prophet of Regret is infected and assimilated into its mass. Also introduced is 2401 Penitent Tangent, Monitor of Installation 05. Both characters act as exposition to Thel 'Vadamee, as Regret remains steadfast to his faith, and the Monitor is fully aware of its status as a weapon. Thel 'Vadamee is further led to question his faith by both the SPARTAN-117 and the Gravemind itself, as they both try to convince the Elite that the Covenant's belief on the Halos is a lie, revealing that the Halos destroy life, not save it. This information, as well the information of the imminent genocide of the Elites lead Thel 'Vadamee reluctantly joining SPARTAN-117 in the mission to stop the ring from being activated. The Gravemind sends both the SPARTAN-117 and Thel 'Vadamee to different locations to help stop the Index from reaching its destination. SPARTAN-117 was sent to High Charity to retrieve the Index while Thel 'Vadamee was sent to the area where the Control Room of Installation 05 to halt the Covenant from activating the rings. SPARTAN-117 then enters in the middle of Truth's broadcast. The Prophet, after escaping assassination, flees to the Dreadnought, chased all the way. John witnesses the conflict between the Elites and Brutes, and saves a few Marines along the way. Meanwhile, the Flood, under the control of the Gravemind, crash into High Charity using In Amber Clad. John witnesses Truth's escape on a Phantom, and Mercy infected by the Flood; the Prophet tells the Spartan that Truth is going to Earth to "finish what we started". After boarding the Dreadnought through an energy conduit, he leaves Cortana behind, but promises that he will come back for her. Meanwhile, Thel 'Vadamee is teleported close to Halo's control room. There, he finds many dead Elites, which were killed by the Brutes. With the help of a few deployed Elites, and sympathetic Unggoy and Mgalekgolo, he fights his way to meet Rtas 'Vadum, who is surprised to hear that the Brutes murdered the Councilors. They fight their way to a Scarab, controlled by Sergeant Johnson, who forcefully initiates an uneasy alliance between the humans and the Elites. With the combined efforts of Johnson and 'Vadamee, the Scarab breaches the Control Room doors, and 'Vadamee enters the Control Room to confront Tartarus. In the Control Room, he hears the truth of the Halos directly from 343 Guilty Spark. Still blinded by faith, Tartarus forced Miranda Keyes to activate Halo. Many Zealots and Councilors aid 'Vadamee in his final fight against Tartarus, and eventually managed to kill him. Once Tartarus is defeated, Miranda grabs the Index just in time to stop Halo from firing. However, 343 Guilty Spark says that this has activated a failsafe protocol, causing the Installation to send a signal to the rest of the Halo Array, putting all the Halos on standby for remote activation from Instillation 00. The Forerunner Dreadnought arrives at Earth with SPARTAN-117 on board. He alerts Admiral Hood of his presence, and tells him that he is "finishing this fight". In a scene after the credits, it appears that High Charity has been completely taken over by the Flood, as thousands of Flood spores are visible throughout the air, floating along the view. The Gravemind speaks of satisfaction of being free of his "empty grave", and suddenly Cortana appears as a hologram on a pedestal in the room. The Gravemind then states that there are questions that linger in his mind, which Cortana must answer. Cortana replies, "Alright...shoot." The screen then turns black before any question is heard. Halo 3 On November 17th, 2552, two weeks after the events of Halo 2, Master Chief John-117 crashes through Earth's atmosphere onto an East African Protectorate jungle. After Sergeant Major Avery Junior Johnson rescues the "Chief," Thel 'Vadam and a handful of Marines, heads toward the extraction point. Covenant forces are sighted in the area and Johnson splits the group to reduce their chances of getting spotted. John-117 and Thel 'Vadam continue on their way to the extraction zone with the second squad, fighting off numerous Covenant troops in the process, but upon reaching the extraction zone, Avery Johnson's Pelican group consisting of two Pelicans, are ambushed and shot down by Banshees. Johnson and his men are then captured and taken prisoner by a number of Brutes led by a Brute Chieftain. John-117, Thel 'Vadam, and company fight their way through hordes of enemies and eventually rescue them, after which a Pelican piloted by "Hocus" arrives and picks them up. The Pelican brings them to Crow's Nest which is used as a local base of operations by the UNSC. Here, Commander Miranda Keyes and Lord Terrance Hood plan a last-ditch effort to stop the Covenant from activating a Forerunner artifact uncovered outside the ruins of the city of New Mombasa. If activated, this artifact will activate the Halo Array and wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy. Their plan is to have John-117 and a small group of marines punch a hole in Truth's anti-air defenses, so that Lord Hood can initiate a low level air-strike on the artifact. Their planning is quickly interrupted when power is cut and the High Prophet of Truth broadcasts an announcement to all surviving human forces that their doom is inevitable. Soon after that, the Covenant Loyalists discover the facility and mount a heavy assault. After a brief struggle, the outpost is lost and is destroyed by a bomb activated by John-117. Deep underground, the Master Chief regroups with the surviving Marines and makes his way into the African City of Voi, Kenya via the Tsavo Highway. Sometime afterward, John-117 along with a handful of Marines destroy the Covenant anti-air defenses, Lord Hood leads the last of Earth's military ships against Truth and the artifact. As Hood mounts his attack on Prophet, Truth activates the artifact and creates an enormous slipspace portal, into which all the Covenant ships retreat. At the same time, a Covenant cruiser controlled by the Flood, a parasitic species which nearly wiped out the Forerunners, arrives suddenly via slipspace and crashes in Voi, the parasite quickly spreads throughout the entire city. As the Human forces attempt to fight the infestation, many are infected by the Flood. The Covenant Separatists lead by Shipmaster Rtas 'Vadum, arrives at Earth and assists the struggle against the infestation. The Elites inform Commander Keyes that a UNSC construct is aboard the crashed Flood ship, and identified it as Cortana. After retrieving Cortana, John-117 returned to the Shadow of Intent to oversee the repairs made by 343 Guilty Spark. However, it is only a recorded message from her. Cortana's message says that the Gravemind is coming to Earth with an army of Flood, and that on the other side of the portal is a solution to the Flood infestation, without having to fire the rings. Lord Hood questions Cortana's plan, assuming that it could be a Flood trap, but John-117 firmly tells Hood that he trusts her. Lord Hood and his UNSC forces remain on Earth to defend it against the incoming Flood invasion while Commander Keyes, John-117, and the Elites journeys through the Portal. Arriving at Instillation 00, the Covenant Separatist engages the Covenant Loyalist fleet while the UNSC launches a ground campaign. After landing on the Ark, 343 Guilty Spark helps lead the Master Chief and UNSC forces to the Ark's Cartographer, the map room of the Ark, to locate the Control Room of the Ark. In order to access the Control Room, the UNSC and the Covenant Separatists must deactivate three shield generators which are inside three separate towers. While SPARTAN-117 and the Arbiter succeed in deactivating the first and second towers, Johnson radios Keyes, telling her that he must retreat due to the heavy enemy assault. When John-117 and the Elites arrived to the third tower, Johnson and his men are nowhere to be seen. After the final shield barrier protecting the Control Room deactivates, the Flood-infested High Charity arrives via slipspace and crashes onto the Ark, releasing many Flood dispersal pods and flood-infested rocks as it falls, causing the Covenant to be even more prone to lighting the rings. After handling the nearby infestation, John-117 leads the remaining UNSC and surviving Sangheili forces via armored vehicles in an assault on the Citadel containing the Control Room, which is heavily defended by Covenant Loyalist forces. Once inside the Citadel, Truth broadcasts his sermon and reveals the captured Johnson to his followers. Just as Truth is about to force Johnson to activate the rings, Keyes crashes into the Control Room using a Pelican. Knowing she can't kill all of the Brutes, Keyes realizes that she must kill Johnson and herself to stop the rings from being activated. From behind, Truth kills Keyes with a Spiker, and then forcing Johnson's hand on the nearby terminal, activates all of the remaining Halos in the galaxy. Just as John-117 and Thel 'Vadam reach the top, two Flood Tank Forms confront them. The Gravemind, communicating through the two Flood forms, urges the two to join forces in stopping the initiation of the Halos and Truth. The Flood help John-117 and Thel 'Vadam reach Truth, taking out the Covenant defenses. With the Flood's help, John-117 and Thel 'Vadam slaughtered all the Covenant forces defending Truth. Upon arrival to the Ark's Control Terminal, they find Johnson mourning over the loss of Keyes, and Truth partially infected. Thel 'Vadam, after a short confrontation with Truth over the true purpose of the Halos, executes Truth with his energy sword, claiming he is too dangerous to be kept alive, just as John-117 deactivates all the Halos. Shortly after the deactivation of the Halos, the Gravemind betrays them and prevents the duo from escaping, although Johnson manages to escape using Keyes' crashed Pelican. The Master Chief and the Arbiter manage to escape from the Citadel via an access tunnel near the elevator they used earlier. John-117 then experiences a hallucination of Cortana and follows the figure to a control panel. He then activated the panel, surprised to see that the Ark was manufacturing Instillation 04B after the destruction of the previous one. Knowing that the threat of the Flood is undeniably apocalyptic, John-117 decides he will activate the new Halo. Needing an Index in order to fire the ring, SPARTAN-117 journeys into the crashed High Charity to retrieve Cortana, keeping his promise and knowing that she still has the Index she acquired from the original Installation 04. Once retrieved, Cortana instructs the SPARTAN to overload High Charity's engines in order to destroy the Gravemind. Thel 'Vadam arrives via Banshee to assist the SPARTAN in fighting the Flood. The two escape from High Charity before it explodes using a damaged but still flyable Pelican. The surviving Sangheili and UNSC personnel return to Earth, leaving only Sergeant Johnson, John-117 with Cortana and the Arbiter to make their way to the new Halo. As they make their way to the new Halo's Control Room, Flood forms arrive via Flood Dispersal Pods to prevent the activation of the Halo. From here, they quickly discover that Gravemind is attempting to reconstruct itself on the new Halo. As Sergeant Johnson tries to activate the ring, 343 Guilty Spark fires his defensive laser at him, mortally wounding Johnson, after realizing that it will destroy the installation. The Monitor then turns against the Master Chief and the Arbiter, blasting the Arbiter out of the Control Room, leaving the SPARTAN to destroy Guilty Spark by himself. John-117 successfully destroys the Monitor with the Spartan Laser and tries to mend Johnson. Mortally wounded, Johnson urged the SPARTAN to send him out "with a bang". With the Halo activated, John-117 and Thel 'Vadam race towards the frigate Forward Unto Dawn using Johnson's Warthog. With no time to reach the cockpit, John-117 uploads Cortana into the frigate to start taking off before the Arbiter is able to take the controls. The front half of the Dawn, containing the Arbiter, makes it through the portal. However, as Halo shakes itself to pieces during its firing sequence and damages the Ark, the portal deactivates as the other half of the Dawn containing Chief and Cortana enter it. This causes them to rip off from the other half of the ship and be sent to an unknown area of space far enough from the Halo's blast, however, since they didn't come out of the other side of the portal, they never made it back to Earth. Back on Earth, Lord Hood holds a memorial service in honor for those who died in the Human-Covenant war, with the Arbiter and many Marines in attendance. With Truth dead, the Covenant defeated, and the Flood wiped out, the long and devastating war is finally over. Though he says he can never forgive the Arbiter for what the Covenant did to the human race, Lord Hood sincerely thanks him for standing by the Master Chief until the end. After the service, the Covenant Separatists returned to their home planet. After the credits, it is revealed that John-117 and Cortana are still alive aboard the rear section of the Dawn, which had apparently torn off before going through the other side of the portal. The SPARTAN floats to a cryotube and as he climbs in, Cortana comments "I'll miss you." He replies "Wake me, when you need me." If the last level is completed on Legendary difficulty, the section of Forward Unto Dawn that Cortana and the Chief are aboard is seen drifting towards Requiem, the Shield World encountered in Halo 4.